In a lithography process as one of the manufacturing processes of a semiconductor device, various exposure apparatuses that transfers a circuit pattern formed in a mask or reticle (hereinafter, referred to as reticle) to a photosensitive substrate, such as a wafer or a glass plate, on which resist (sensitizer) is coated, are used.
For example, as an exposure apparatus for a semiconductor device, with the reduction of the minimum line width of the pattern according to high integration of an integrated circuit (device rule), a reduction projection exposure apparatus that transfers the pattern of the reticle on the wafer at a reduced scale using a projection optical system is mainly used.
In the above-described exposure apparatus, after exposure to a predetermined shot region on the wafer is performed, exposure to other shot regions is sequentially repeated. Accordingly, an error in relative position between the projection optical system and the wafer is caused by vibration due to movement of a wafer stage (in case of a stepper), or a reticle stage and wafer stage (in case of a scanning stepper). Then, the pattern is transferred at a different position on the wafer from a position corresponding to a design value. Therefore, if a vibration component is included in the positional error, image blurring (increase in pattern line width) may be generated.
Generally, a power supply member that supplies various kinds of power, such as a cable that supplies electric power to a driving unit such as motors disposed in the stage, a coolant pipe that cools the motors, a coolant pipe that keeps the stage at a predetermined temperature, a vacuum pipe that exhausts a vacuum absorption hole provided at a substrate placing surface to vacuum, is connected to the above-described stage (hereinafter, the cable and pipes are collectively referred to as cables). Then, fine vibration is caused by a tension applied according to the movement of the stage, and the reaction force thereof. Accordingly, precision of the pattern transfer may be degraded.
In Patent Document 1, there is disclosed a configuration in which a battery is mounted on a stage. Here, when the stage is provided at a wafer replacement position, a power transmission terminal provided in a base structure and a power receiving terminal provided in the stage are brought into contact with each other, such that the battery is charged with a current to be supplied from the power transmission terminal through the power receiving terminal. Further, when the stage is spaced apart from the wafer replacement position, a predetermined processing is performed using electrical power from the battery.
With this configuration, electrical wiring lines to the stage are not needed during a predetermined processing, such as an exposure processing or the like. Accordingly, dynamic and static characteristics of the stage can be improved.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application, Publication No. H10-270535